LPM Online

Contents

1. Upcoming Events
   
   

   July 9, 2001 - 7:00 PM

   Clare-Gladwin Libertarian Party Meeting. Turn in signatures, get new petitions, get ready for the Fair, get ready for Freedom Banquet 2001 on October 20th.

   Location: Grant Township Hall, located 1 mile West of Jays Sporting Goods on Surrey Road.

   Contact: Ghazey Phone: (517) 386-2699 E-mail: aleckfamily@voyager.net

   
   

   July 11, 2001 - 6:30 PM

   Libertarians of Macomb County monthly meeting. Drinks and dinner at 6:30 PM, business begins at 7:00 PM.

   Location: Miles World Resturant, 17689 Masonic, Fraser, MI 48026, 810-415-4500.

   Contact: Diane Barnes Phone: (810) 774-1625 E-mail: dbarnes98@aol.com

   
   

   July 12, 2001 - 7:00 PM

   The Ballot Access Restoration Committee meets the second and fourth Thursday every month -- until we submit petition signatures to the Bureau of Elections to be certified to once again be able to run Libertarian candidates in partisan races. All LPM members are welcome to attend and help with both the planning and execution of our petition drive.

   Location: LPMHQ, 619 E. 9 Mile, Hazel Park (just east of I-75)

   Contact: Nancy O'Brien Phone: (313) 562-5778 E-mail: nobrien321@home.com

   
   

   July 16, 2001 - 7:30 PM

   Meeting of the Andy LeCureaux for Hazel Park City Council Campaign.

   Location: LPM HQ, 619 East Nine Mile Rd., Hazel Park

   Contact: Dave Collver Phone: (248) 542-9274 E-mail: DCCollver@aol.com

   
   

   July 17, 2001

   Libertarians of Allegan County.

   Location: No meeting this month, see you at the August meeting.

   Contact: Rick Dutkiewicz Phone: (616) 673-5503 E-mail: rdoogie@datawise.net

   
   

   July 18, 2001

   Monthly meeting of the St. Clair County affiliate.

   Location: Figaro's is located at 1503 11th Street, Port Huron, MI 48060. TX: (810) 987-3588. Join us for dinner at 6:00 PM. Business begins at 7:00 PM.

   Contact: Richard Friend Phone: (810) 982-7178 E-mail: rfriend@advnet.net

   
   

   July 21, 2001 - 7:00 PM

   The Van Buren County chapter would like to invite everyone to their monthly meeting. Dinner will be available at 6:30.

   Location: CT's restaurant, South Haven on the corner of M-43 and Blue Star Highway

   Contact: Bill Bradley Phone: (616) 637-4525

   
   

   July 26, 2001 - 7:00 PM

   The Ballot Access Restoration Committee meets the second and fourth Thursday every month -- until we submit petition signatures to the Bureau of Elections to be certified to once again be able to run Libertarian candidates in partisan races. All LPM members are welcome to attend and help with both the planning and execution of our petition drive.

   Location: LPMHQ, 619 E. 9 Mile, Hazel Park (just east of I-75)

   Contact: Nancy O'Brien Phone: (313) 562-5778 E-mail: nobrien321@home.com

   
   

   August 6, 2001 - 7:30 PM

   Meeting of the Andy LeCureaux for Hazel Park City Council Campaign.

   Location: LPM HQ, 619 East Nine Mile Rd., Hazel Park

   Contact: Dave Collver Phone: (248) 542-9274 E-mail: DCCollver@aol.com

   
   

   August 8, 2001 - 6:30 PM

   Libertarians of Macomb County monthly meeting. Drinks and dinner at 6:30 PM, business begins at 7:00 PM.

   Location: Miles World Resturant, 17689 Masonic, Fraser, MI 48026, 810-415-4500.

   Contact: Diane Barnes Phone: (810) 774-1625 E-mail: dbarnes98@aol.com

   
   

   More

   For more events, see the online calendar at:

   http://www.michiganlp.org/lpmonline/events.php

   
   

2. Libertarian Outreach by Leonard Schwartz

   What's the most efficient way to encourage people to vote Libertarian and join the Libertarian Party? What issues should we emphasize? How should we present those issues? Should we use leaflets, newspaper ads, magazine ads, radio ads, or TV ads? Where should we place those leaflets and ads?

   Some persons complain about their national, state, or local Libertarian Party outreach methods.

   My suggestion: Instead of complaining, use one of these options:

   (1) Give money to independent organizations that are doing Libertarian outreach the way you want.

   (2) Make an offer to your national, state, or local Libertarian Party to pay for a special outreach project that you designed.

   (3) Do your own Libertarian outreach. Produce your own leaflets and ads. Place them wherever you want.

   If you do your own outreach, you sometimes must register as a political committee. Here are the rules according to Michigan's campaign finance law:

   If two or more individuals (acting collectively) spend more than $500 a year encouraging voters to vote for or against any specific candidate or ballot issue, the group must register with the Bureau of Elections.

   If a group spends less than $500 a year on such activities, it need not register. As long as the outreach material is not for or against specific candidates, a group can spend as much as it wants encouraging persons to vote straight Libertarian.

   If only one individual pays for the outreach material, that person need not register, even if the person spends more than $500 a year encouraging voters to vote for or against specific candidates or ballot issues.

   Leonard Schwartz, LPM campaign finance law adviser

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3. Newsletter Contributions Invited by Greg Dirasian

   All LPM members are encouraged to send articles for publication in the newsletter. Articles should be emailed to newsletter@michiganlp.org and may be submitted in plain text, Word97, RTF, Works for Windows 4.0, or WordPerfect (6.x) format. (Other formats, please ask in advance).

   Also, please email photos. Especially appreciated are photos of candidates, events held by affiliates (such as an OPH booth), or other relevant photos.

   This month, I am especially interested in petitioning anecdotes and photos of people petitioning.

   This is an exciting time in the LPM. I know that there are many people and affiliates doing all kinds of exciting activities. Please share your news!!!

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4. Clawson Independence Day Parade by Greg Dirasian

   The Libertarian Party of Oakland Count is pleased to announce that its parade float is ready!

   Please join us at 8:00AM Wednesday morning July 4, 2001 in the parade staging area where we will put the finishing touches on the float.

   We will also need help passing out literature along the parade route. This is an excellent opportunity to collect signatures for our ballot access petitions.

   Parades are fun and we are always well-received in Clawson. Don't miss this opportunity!

   The staging area is behind the shopping strip on the south side of 14 Mile Rd just east of Crooks Rd. in Clawson. (There is a Frank's Nursery in the shopping strip also).

   View the parade float at:

   http://www.lpocmi.org/Parade/
   

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5. BARC Update by Nancy O'Brien

   Let’s start with the good news. Congratulations to our top ten signature gatherers to date! The are:
   
   AL TITRAN 451
   BENJAMIN F STEELE III 383
   RICHARD JOZWIAK 228
   BENJAMIN F STEELE JR 160
   TRAFTON JEAN 160
   VIOLET STEELE 144
   DAVID COLLVER 113
   LLOYD SHERMAN 104
   CONSTANCE J CATALFIO 103
   WILLIAM T WHITE 101
   
   
   We would like to extend a laurel, and hardy handshake to all ;-)
   
   Remember – we don’t count them until you send them in to us. If you have completed petitions, please send them in so we can check the signatures and log them.
   
   To date we have collected 6,571 signatures. That sounds like a huge number. Until you consider that by June 23 we should have collected 17,000 signatures to reach our goal for phase I of the campaign.
   
   We expect to do significantly better with our volunteers in phase II due to the many, great petitioning opportunities in the next two months, e.g. the Ann Arbor Art Fair, the Woodward Dream Cruise, and the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival, and numerous Fourth of July celebrations, just to name of few. Nevertheless, we must make up for our phase I shortfall. In order to do that, we will be contracting with paid petitioners for 10,000 signatures.
   
   Are you interested in becoming a paid petitioner for the LPM?
   
   We would like to extend this opportunity to our members before seeking help from strangers. If you are a party member and are willing to commit to collecting 2,000 by September 1, 2001, please submit a bid as to how much you would charge per signature collected. You will be required to sign a contract and submit signatures on a weekly basis so we can keep track of your progress. We will contract with the five lowest bidders for 2,000 signatures each. However, preference will be given to those with a proven track record for reliably completing party projects. Note: signatures collected for pay will not count towards prizes and incentives.
   
   You will need to submit at least 250 signatures per weeks toward your 2,000 signature commitment. While all signatures will be compensated at the agreed upon price, failure of any petitioner to achieve their weekly quota will result in their being replaced by the next highest bidder in line. Bids will be sealed subject to review by the state party chair. In other words, your rate of pay will not be affected by the pay rate of other petitioners. 75 cents per signature is the highest bid that will be considered. If you bid too high, the market may beat you out. If you bid low, you may be working for less than another petitioner (though I suspect not much less).
   
   Remember, you are doing this for the party. We will be making the most frugal and wise use of our dollars possible.
   
   If you are interested in being considered, please email me at nobrien321@home.com, or call me at (313) 562-5778 by Friday, July 6. The clock is ticking; we have to move on this.
   
   If you know a party member who may be interested and who does not receive the on-line newsletter, please let him or her know about this opportunity.

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6. Your “Fair Share” by Nancy O'Brien

   Are you someone who has run for office in the past eight years? If so, the reason you were able to run on the Libertarian Party ticket is because in 1993, dedicated Libertarian volunteers gave weeks of their time and thousands of dollars of their money to the petition drive to regain our ballot access. It was a tough job. Especially since back then the party had less than 300 members -- as opposed to the more than 1,800 members and contributors we have today. Should we ask any less of ourselves than they were willing to give?
   
   Early this year, Ben Bachrach requested that individual party members let us know how many signatures they would commit to gathering for the ballot drive. The BARC Committee made decisions about priorities for BARC resources based on those commitments.
   
   Unfortunately, it now appears that BARC plans will have to be revised due to the fact that promised volunteer support has simply not materialized.
   
   Fortunately, there is still time left for those of you who have gotten off to a slow start to help put us back on track.
   
   Can’t remember what you said you would do? Following is a list of members and their signature pledges:
   
   Aleck Ghazey 500
   Allen Scott W 200
   Anderson James 100
   Ask Richard M 100
   Bachrach Benjamin 100
   Barnes Diane 3
   Barnett Todd 500
   Barrette Judith 25
   Beck Timothy 100
   Bergman Dorothy 25
   Bibbee Richard 200
   Blackbird Beth Joy 2
   Bloom Jerry E 25
   Boleyn Maggie 50
   Bora Theresa 25
   Bouwman Roger 100
   Bradley William H. 50
   Brinkman Mike 50
   Broda Robert 200
   Buck David 50
   Burke George Russell 5
   Byrne Katherine 25
   Byrne Mark 25
   Carney Mark 100
   Carson Michael 100
   Catalfio Constance 50
   Caulkins Robert 25
   Collins Fred 400
   Combs Todd 150
   Corliss Michael 100
   Daniels Paul 25
   Davis Cea 50
   Dickson Michael 100
   Dirasian Greg 200
   Donahue Michael 100
   Douglas Troy 200
   Dutkiewicz Krystal 50
   Dutkiewicz Rick 50
   Edge David 25
   Fitzpatrick Jim 200
   Fitzpatrick Lynn 100
   Freedman RM 50
   Gelineau Bill 200
   Gillman Jason 300
   Gitler Scott M.25
   Gnadt Loel 50
   Goushaw Barbara B. 400
   Hall Mickey 200
   Hall William W. 1000
   Heil Mark F 1
   Hitch Paul 25
   Hudler James L. 150
   Jean Trafton 50
   Johnson Frank W. 500
   Jones Thomas 0
   Jozwiak Matt 1
   Jozwiak Richard E 50
   Karpinski Edward W. 100
   Kastner James 25
   Kleeves Jack 500
   Kluesner Brian A 500
   Kugel Richard 25
   Kwiatkowski Walter 50
   Langhaan Kim 500
   Larsen Elisabeth 5
   Lendzion Donna 100
   Leone Tom 5
   Madigan Brent 25
   Marolf Sarah 100
   Masten Laverne W 25
   McGough Tim 50
   Merritt Lowell 500
   Miller James 100
   Miller Michael 100
   Mitchell Mitch 25
   Montgomery James F. 100
   Morey Timothy C 25
   Morisi Wendy 25
   Nagy David 50
   Nazzaro Mona 25
   Newman James A 25
   Niederer Bruce 50
   O'Brien Nancy 100
   O'Brien Timothy 100
   Ottenwess Ron 50
   Parker James B. 200
   Pauli Heather R 10
   Pratt Chris 25
   Purdy Lawrence 25
   Radcliffe David 10
   Radtke Chris 100
   Razdolsky Vladimir 25
   Sawyer Knowlton Timothy 50
   Schmitz Darryl J 25
   Schubring Robert 25
   Schwartz Leonard C. 25
   Secula Rick 50
   Sherman Lloyd 500
   Shotey William J. 25
   Sjoberg Sara 250
   Smith Curtis W 25
   Smith Jeffrey S 25
   Smith Larry J 50
   Stahl Erin 200
   Steele Ben 500
   Steele Benjamin 50
   Stempien Brian 25
   Strebel William 200
   Stuart Paul 25
   Sutton Steven 25
   Swarthout Chester 5
   Titran Albert J 200
   Toms John P 25
   Toporek Ken 30
   Townsend Stephen 400
   VanCamp Clarence 25
   VanOast Robert 100
   VanOast Stacy 100
   Vierling Lou 25
   Vozenilek Barbara A. 100
   Wassick Gregory 25
   Wejrandt David 100
   Westra Jim 25
   Whitt Glenn 50
   Wierman Laurie 50
   Wierman Ted 50
   Willis Gregory 500
   Wrenbeck Andy 25
   Yope Craig Aaron 100
   Young Rodger 25
   

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7. CCW Training by Tim O'Brien

   Now that the new "Shall Issue" law has gone into effect, there are undoubtedly more than a few LPM members who want to get a concealed carry permit (CCW).
   
   One of the legal requirements is to obtain an eight hour training course (including three hours of range time) from a certified instructor.
   
   Long time LP ally and Brass Roots executive director Mike Hoban is a qualifed intructor who offers this course -- and will provide recognized certification to submit along with your CCW application upon successful completion.
   
   I am hoping to organize enough LPM members to fill one entire class and qualify for a group discount. The class would be a one day, eight hour intensive.
   
   I do not know exactly what day (though it would be a Saturday or Sunday yet this month), where it will be held (though sites in either Lapeer or Shiawasee county are currently looking most likely). The rate will depend on the size of the group (but will probably be around $125).
   
   Please send me an e-mail indicating your interest and I will get back to you as details firm up.

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8. Affiliate Contest Underway! by Ben Steele III

   Seven LPM Affiliates submitted goals for the 2001 Affiliates Contest by the July 1 deadline. Those Affiliates and their goals are:

   Libertarians of Allegan County (four goals):

   1. To collect more than "their share" of signatures for the ballot drive (at 31 signatures per member); meaning they will collect more than 600 signatures. 2. To increase LP membership in Allegan County by 50%; bringing them to at least 30 members. 3. To go out and meet each Allegan County LP member and donor, current or lapsed, face to face, at their homes; that is a total of 34 people they will have to visit. 4. To defeat the Kalamazoo Valley Community College annexation by opposing the county-wide election if it comes up, or by convincing the Allegan County Commissioners that opposition is so strong and organized against the plan, that it would be a waste of money to bring it to the voters.

   The Clare-Gladwin Libertarian Party:

   To participate in five specific events: a St. Patrick's Day Parade, 4th of July Parades in Clare and Harrison, manning a fair booth, and hosting "Freedom Banquet 2001."

   The Libertarian Party of Lapeer/Genesee Counties:

   To have no less than 25 people in Lapeer and Genesee Counties circulating petitions for the ballot drive.

   The Libertarian Party of Ottawa County (three goals):

   1. To collect 1,000 signatures for the ballot drive. 2. To double their average meeting attendance. 3. To do a "Tax Rebate" fundraising mailing.

   The Libertarian Party of Shiawassee County:

   To collect 5,000 signatures for the ballot drive.

   The Libertarian Party of Wayne County:

   To host a successful 2001 Liberty Fest Awards Banquet ("success" defined as getting more than 100 people to attend).

   The Libertarian Party of West Michigan:

   To grow their membership by twice the rate they did in 2000.

   Wow! I certainly hope that each of these Affiliates meets its goal, as we will all win if they do! Each Affiliate which does meet its goal by April 15, 2002, will be entered into a drawing to win a $150 certificate from the Advocates for Self-Government, which can be used for further outreach and improvement.

   Watch this newsletter for updates on the progress of each Affiliate toward meeting its goal.

   Good luck, everyone!

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